A digital stylus, or a digital pen, can be used with specialized paper which encodes position and page information on its surface using a pattern of dots which can be visible and/or invisible to the human eye (in the latter case the encoding can be performed using dots visible only in the infra-red portion of the electromagnetic spectrum). The paper (or similar) surface can be used to record data, in which case the stylus or pen can be used to write on the surface, and the position of the pen can be determined and used to digitize the writing. Alternatively, the stylus or pen can be used in order to select items, such as from a pre-printed form for example. In active systems, such as digital tablets for example, a stylus or pen can be used to control a computing apparatus by virtue of inductive, capacitive or resistive elements in the tablet's surface which are invoked by the stylus thereby causing some action to be performed (such as cursor movement or menu item selection for example).
Digital stylus apparatus can also be used for position determination with a display such as a monitor for example. Accordingly, a display can comprise a data encoding layer which can be used by a stylus to determine position on the monitor thereby enabling a user to control a graphical user interface of a computing apparatus for example.